Broken Rules
by fanfictional
Summary: Tony's on a date, and Ziva calls. He doesn't answer, but could that put Ziva's life in danger? First NCIS fanfiction. No pairings but hints at feelings. Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS or any of its characters. Rated T for violence and mild language. The characters may be a bit OOC, so forgive mistakes in their personalities.
1. Chapter 1

_**So, tell me if you like it or if it was too much. This story is only going to be about four chapters I think. Reviews? Also I don't have a beta, so if there are too many mistakes, tell me or maybe offer to be my beta...?**_

Ziva was more tired than she had been in a long time. The team had been working a case for nearly forty-eight hours straight, but they had finally caught the man who was murdering marine wives. It had been an emotionally charged case for everyone- especially Gibbs, since the last murder included the marine's two young children. Ziva hoped they wouldn't have another case for at least a day or two, but murderers never seemed to take a break when it was needed the most. On top of all of that, it was nearly Christmas, and she had done no shopping, although she had nowhere to go for the holiday.

She was preparing to go to sleep when she heard a sound. She didn't know where it was coming from, so she was on edge. Ziva pulled her gun from its holster and stood in a corner of the room beside a chair, so no one could sneak up on her from behind. The lights went out, and Ziva knew she was in trouble. The door opened, and she wondered if she had locked it when she had entered the apartment before snapping back to her surroundings. There were three men by the sound of their foot steps, and they were Russian, judging by the bits and pieces she could decipher from their mutters.

Ziva allowed her eyes to adjust to the dark while she watched the three men pass her. They must have had night vision goggles, because they were not stumbling over her furniture. Her eyes had adjusted enough to see the outlines of the men clearly. One had gone into her bed room, and another was checking the bath room. She knew she had very little chance of leaving when two more men walked through the door and announced that the neighbor who was being intrusive had been taken care of.

She ducked behind a recliner, although she was still not sure how the woman had talked her into buying it, and pulled her phone from her pocket. She called Tony and lowered the volume on her phone. She would only have one chance, because the light would give her away soon. The phone rang once, twice, three times and still he didn't answer. "Hello, you've reached very special age-" She heard the message and the beep but still couldn't believe Tony hadn't answered her call the one time she truly needed him to answer.

"Вон там! (Over there)", one man said rather loudly. Ziva's time was up. Tony had not answered, and she would have to go down fighting, because she would be going down. She saw all five men walking towards her hiding place and fired.

Tony smiled at Kim and held her hand across the table. They had been dating for nearly three months, which was doing well for Tony's track record, and he thought they could work. She was blonde with blue eyes and had a good sense of humor. She liked movies and understood Tony's references, and she didn't mind that he postponed their dates more than he attended them. He didn't love her, but they had fun together. "You look ama-" Tony was cut off by his phone ringing in his pocket.

He checked the screen and saw that it was Ziva calling. Kim smiled a little and nodded. "You have to go, and we will reschedule as soon as possible?", she said knowingly. There she went being understanding again and not being angry that he would be leaving.

Tony sighed sadly. Kim was always so understanding, and he was usually being called in for something Ziva and McGee could have taken care of without him. Gibbs would yell at him for being late, and Ziva would be annoyed that she had to listen to McTalkative when she was so tired, but they could get over it. "Not tonight. Where were we?"

_next day_

Tony walked to his desk with a smile plastered on his face. It disappeared when he realized he had forgotten to call Ziva back the night before. They must have taken care of everything though, because he received no more calls that night from an angry McDiva or Ziva. Oddly, her desk was empty. He was pondering on the reasons she would be later than him when he was already late when McGee looked over to where he was. "Better get busy. Gibbs is not happy that you and Ziva are both late today.", he said.

Tony searched the area but saw no sign of his boss, so he sat down and booted up his computer. "Where is our favorite trained assassin this morning, McWorry?", Tony asked casually. He was actually a little worried and wondered about the phone call from the night before had been more than routine work. If it had, wouldn't McGee have brought it up?

McGee shrugged and said, "No idea. I was going to call her soon."

"Do it.", Gibbs ordered. He walked past them and slapped Tony on the back of his head for being late, coffee in hand. He sat at his desk and waited for McGee to start talking into the phone, but he didn't. "Well?", he asked impatiently.

McGee gulped nervously, because Gibbs was always likely to shoot the messenger. "No answer, boss." Gibbs gave him a menacing look, so McGee continued quickly. "B-but I can trace her phone if you want, because it's still on." He had started the trace before Gibbs needed to give the order, and Tony was more worried than ever.

Gibbs watched Tony and was suspicious that something had happened. Of course Tony would worry if Ziva were possibly missing, but he wouldn't look guilty too. "Something you want to share with the class, Special Agent DiNozzo?", Gibbs asked.

Tony knew he was in trouble, because Gibbs only called him by his professional title when he knew Tony had done something. "Ziva called me last night around nine.", he said. He couldn't look Gibbs in the eye, because he knew he was about to be interrogated.

"And?", Gibbs asked. He stood from his desk and walked to Tony's. He towered of Tony and braced his palms against the desk separating them. Tony suddenly found his desk top very interesting and knew he was about to lose this game.

Tony looked up at Gibbs and knew exactly why his boss never had to make deals with the criminals they caught. Who wouldn't people tell everything they knew with Leroy Jethro Gibbs hovering over them like that? "Boss, I thought- it could have- I didn't think-" Gibbs gave him a hard slap to the head. "I didn't answer.", Tony admitted with guilt filling his every bone.

Gibbs stared him down with nostrils flaring and eyes darkened with fury. "Your partner called you, and you didn't answer? You've broken at least three rules with that one action, and you didn't have the guts to say it until now. McGee, with me. We're going to Ziva's apartment."

Tony's mind flashed to the night before. He had been on a date with Kim while Ziva was possibly being hurt or killed. "What about me, boss?", he asked. He wanted to go and make sure she was alright, but that didn't seem likely.

"Stay. Watch for activity on her phone. See if she made any other calls or has used her credit card somewhere." McGee looked at him sympathetically but not much. Tony should have answered his phone, and they all knew it.

Gibbs drove at twice his normal break neck speeds, making sure to break every speeding law and barely avoiding many other vehicles on the road. When they reached Ziva's apartment, Gibbs and McGee took the steps quickly with their guns drawn. Ziva's door was unlocked, and a note was taped to the outside. It said, _Ви ніколи не знайдете її (you will never find her). _They left the note for the time being and Gibbs opened the door. The scene before them was one that made them both terrified, though neither would admit it.


	2. Chapter 2

Tony had just arrived at Ziva's apartment and saw the disarray it was in. Furniture had been knocked to the ground, and the walls were riddled with bullets. The floor had various patterns of blood, and two men lay dead on the floor. Tony, bag and tag. McGee's doing the sketch.", Gibbs said without looking in Tony's direction. Tony had decided to add another rule to the list of rules he had broken: rule number one. Never screw over your partner.

"Yes, boss.", he said monotonously. He could have prevented this, and Ziva was suffering because of him. They processed the crime scene and Ducky and Palmer took the bodies. Gibbs didn't speak to Tony except to give orders, and McGee stayed silent as he worked the scene. Just when they thought they were finished, an elderly woman's body was discovered in the apartment across the hall. Their day had only just begun, and it would not be easily endured.

Gibbs, Tony, and McGee stepped off the elevator and were met by a distraught Abby waiting for them. "What the hell is going on? All I get is a call that you're processing a scene at Ziva's. Where is she? Is she okay? Can I see her? Is she hurt?" Abby was nearly hyperventilating when she noticed that Ziva didn't step off the elevator with the rest of the team.

"McGee.", Gibbs said as if it were an order.

McGee started walking toward the bullpen right away. "BOLO, on it, boss.", he said.

"Tony what did you find in her phone and credit card records?"

Tony looked even more guilty, and Gibbs waited for the next piece of bad news. "Nothing on either one, boss, but there's a voice mail on my phone from her. I guess she didn't hang up." Gibbs walked past him without a head slap or second glance.

"Well, let's hear it.", Gibbs ordered angrily. Abby was confused but followed the two men over to where the plasma screen was. "Abby, there's evidence coming your way. A lot of it." Abby took the hint and scurried back to her lab, so she could help in any way possible.

McGee took Tony's phone and hooked it up to the speakers on the plasma. The sound filtered through seconds after. They heard Ziva sighing angrily (probably because her call wasn't answered), and she mumbled something in Hebrew. A man said something in another language, and gun shots rang out of the speakers. Everything was silent for a minute, and then the man was speaking again. Some shuffling was heard, and the apartment door opened and closed. It was over, and Ziva was gone with no one the wiser.

"McGee, take DiNozzo to canvas for witnesses, and ask the landlord why the police weren't called."

"Well, uh, boss, Ziva doesn't live in the best part of town, so-" He saw the look on Gibbs' face and changed his sentence. "But, w-we're going to ask a-anyway." He and Tony left, and Gibbs went down to visit Ducky.

"Ah, Jehtro, right on time as always. I've found very little that will tell us where these men have taken Ziva, but I can tell you about the men. They are Russian, if their tattoos are any indication, and they were indeed killed by Ziva's weapon. I can't tell you much more other than that they were expendable and must not have known much about their mission."

"Why do you say that, Duck?" Gibbs was not happy that he still had no leads, but the kidnappers had left no prints, hairs, or other evidence- except the blood Ziva had forced them to leave.

Ducky walked over to one of the bodies and motion to the bullet wounds in the man's chest. "This fellow could have been alive for up to an hour after he was shot, but he was left there to die. That tells me no one was worried about him saying something he shouldn't." He paused and looked at Gibbs. "You'll find her, Jethro.", was all he said.

"Thanks, Duck.", Gibbs said as he walked through the automatic doors. He was going to visit Abby next, and he hoped she would have something for him. "What do you got for me, Abs?", he asked when he entered the room with a caf-pow.

Abby whirled around to him quickly just as various machines began beeping or flashing. He handed her the caf-pow, but she only set it on the table and started talking. "Okay, what I got for you isn't much. The guys were identified in Interpol's database, and they're bad news, Gibbs. Both of them are contract killers and are very good at their job. They are Andrei Klimov and Kodiak Fedorov.", Abby said while looking at the men's pictures on her screen. She turned to Gibbs with a sad look on her face."Tell me she'll be okay, Gibbs. Tell me you'll find her." Abby knew that Gibbs would find Ziva, but she needed to hear it, for someone to say that Ziva would be back at work complaining about Tony by the next day.

"We'll find her, Abs. Good work." He kissed her cheek and walked out of the room to see of McGee and Tony were back.

He walked into the bullpen and saw McGee working feverishly at his computer and Tony was making calls on the phone. "Talk to me.", Gibbs said as he sat at his desk.

McGee pulled a drawing of a man up on the screen. "The landlord wasn't there when it happened, and the security cameras are only for show." He stopped to hand Gibbs a piece of paper with a man's face on it. "This is the man a neighbor said she saw sneaking around the building and then leaving in a black sedan. She also took a picture of the car. We got a hit off the plate and drawing. The man is Jurek Demidov, also a contract killer like our other two. The car belongs to David Ashbury and was reported stolen three days ago."

Gibbs was about to go for a coffee break when Tony spoke from his desk. "Wait, boss, I got an address on both of our bad guys in autopsy. Andrei Klimov owns twenty-two abandoned factories, and Kodiak Fedorov own ten ware houses that shut down at least ten years ago. And, you guessed it, they're all in separate, uninhabited parts of Washington and some go further out than that.", he said angrily.

Gibbs thought for a moment. With the Christmas season drawing near, his team had pulled the short straw to work. They were the only people working. He walked up the stairs and into Vance's office. "We need to talk, Leon.", he said when he walked in without knocking.

Vance would have normally made a comment about Gibbs not knocking or how he was working so late, but there was nothing to joke about that night. "Any leads?", he asked.

"About thirty. Our dead guys have thirty-two ware houses and factories between them, and we only know of one other person involved. DiNozzo and McGee are looking at third man now, but I think there are more."

Vance nodded, because when Gibbs thought something, it was usually right. A knock sounded at the door, and McGee entered. "Boss, the third man Jurek Dermidov has fifteen properties spread out like the other two, so that brings the count up to forty-seven that we know of. How are we going to search them all without any one else on duty?" McGee sounded scared, and Gibbs couldn't blame him.

"You can't call some agents in to help search the properties? This is one of our people, Leon." Gibbs was trying to keep his wits about him, but it was becoming increasingly difficult. One of his people was missing, and he couldn't save her.

"I'll make some calls, but I can't make anyone leave their families five hours before Christmas Eve. I'm sorry, but this will be volunteers only." Gibbs left the room and slammed the door behind him, but Vance was in an understanding mood. He picked up the phone and started making calls, the first being to his wife, because he was not going home anytime soon.

Gibbs went back to Abby's lab to see what she had with Tony and McGee following. They all hoped there would be something to tell them where they should go first. "Abs, find anything?", he asked as they walked into the room.

Abby turned and was about to speak when she saw Tony. "I'm going to skip the 'how' and go straight to the 'what'. Klimov and Fedorov were both in Fairfax two nights ago, but the GPS in their cell phone's stopped transmitting just after that, so that's a good place to start if you don't have anything else. I was also able to translate what was said in the voice mail Ziva left on Tony's phone." Abby didn't want Tony to be there for the beginning of her translation.

Gibbs gave her a look that told her to continue but had a feeling she stopped because of something in it. "Okay." She played the recording. "Where Ziva talks, she said...she said that she should have called Gibbs." Abby wanted to run over and give Tony a hug, because he looked like his guilt was about to strangle him. "After that when the men talk, one is saying 'over there'. I think he was talking about Ziva, and when they're leaving, another one says 'I hope I'm the one who gets to finish her when Serg is done.' Also the note on the door was written in Ukrainian."

"So, the Russians are working with the Ukrainians?", Tony asked. He was sure that Ziva couldn't bring two entire countries together on a man hunt, but she did tend to make serious enemies who held big grudges..

Abby laughed and shook her head. "My guess is since they didn't know the details of their mission, they all assumed she would be easy to catch. They probably planned to leave the note to throw us off their trail. And guess what else!" No one guessed so Abby continued. "Yes, I found a partial finger print in our dead guy's ear. They were all wearing wires, I guess so they could stay in contact when they were separated, but the print I found did _not _belong to the dead guy. I'm thinking his boss or the leader passed them around, so we have a name. Sergei Novikov!"

"Who is he, Abs?", Gibbs asked impatiently.

Abby smiled as she got back into her old antics a bit. "Glad you asked. He is not a contract killer, but he is a weapons smuggler whose wife was killed ten years ago after he cheated Israel in some big deal. We have the boss man, but you can add eighteen more properties to your list." She sighed a little at the bittersweet moment.

Everyone's wheels were turning. Ten years ago Ziva was a Mossad officer and trained to be a killer, so this was probably a revenge kidnapping. "He'll want to keep her alive for a while.", Gibbs said.

"What?", Tony and McGee asked at the same time.

"If Ziva killed his wife, he's going to want her to suffer. He can't do that after he kills her."

Ziva woke up to find herself tied to a table with her arms bound above her head. The previous events flooded her mind, and she remembered that she had been taken captive by Russians. She had killed two, so there were only three left who had been in her apartment. The room was pitch black, so Ziva listened to her surrounding but heard nothing. That meant they were either too far from other people or in some kind of sound proof room, perhaps underground.

"Ах, вы не спите (Ah, you are awake)", a voice said from somewhere above her. Ziva said nothing, but that must have been the wrong answer, because she was forcefully slapped across her face. "Ты помнишь меня? (Do you remember me)", he asked calmly.

Ziva had no idea who might have taken her, since she made a lot of enemies in her line of work. "Нет, кто ты? (No, who are you)", she asked. This earned her another slap, but she didn't feel the sting. She had been hit much harder in much worse situations.

"Вы будете, а вы помните, Катюша! (you will remember me, and you will remember Katyusha)", he yelled at her.

Ziva remembered the woman, because she remembered the name of every person she killed. She had killed her nearly ten years ago, because her husband was cheap and needed incentive to finish the deal he was to make. "Ваша жена. (Your wife)", she stated in remembrance.

His wife being spoken of by her killer seemed to remind Sergei where he was. He walked to a table and looked at the many instruments he had there. She would not die soon or without pain. "Начнем. (Let us begin)."


	3. Chapter 3

Sergei walked over to a camera and pressed the button to start recording. "Ваши друзья должны смотреть на вас страдать. (Your friends should watch you suffer)", he told her.

Ziva was still confused but caught on quickly when he spoke to the camera. Her mind was still hazy. She realized that her abdomen was stinging and made the connection. She had been shot and had lost a lot of blood. "Hello, NCIS. I hope you have not become too fond of Miss David, because you are going to watch her die." Ziva wasn't surprised Sergei spoke English, because most arms dealers did.

"How do you know they will see the video?", she asked to distract him and herself.

"I've hacked into Abby Sciuto's lab, and I'm sure she will alert the others. Are you ready to begin?", he asked as he stepped back to the table.

Abby was running a few more tests on some particulates when her screens went blank. "Hello, NCIS." The message started, but Abby was already calling Gibbs. He answered on the first ring. "Gibbs, hurry. Sergei is on my computers!" Gibbs made it down to the lab in record time with Tony and McGee right behind him.

They all watched Sergei stand over a table. "Ziva, I know you have been tortured before, but I am not trying to get information out of you. I just want to torture you to death. I don't care what you can offer, because my only reason for bringing you here is to kill you slowly and as painfully as possible.", Sergei told her.

"Abby, trace this or something!", Gibbs barked at Abby.

She was typing and trying so many different codes and techniques, but nothing worked. "He's hiding his IP address. I can't find him, Gibbs." She looked at him with tears in her eyes, because she had failed. McGee hugged her and she clung to his shirt until they heard Sergei laughing.

He had sliced Ziva leg across her thigh. "I'm sure that hurt, and yet you didn't move. You don't have to hide your pain, Ziva, because I don't care about your reaction. Just knowing that the people you care about are watching you die is enough for me.", he said as brought the small knife down again. It tore into her other leg and he pulled it from the top of her thigh to her knee.

Ziva stared at the ceiling and cleared her mind. She blocked everything and refused to feel the blood seeping down her leg onto the table she was tied to. "Have you ever been burned by a cigarette before, Ziva? Answer me, or I will be forced to remove your tongue.", he said calmly.

Ziva still had hope that Gibbs would find her, and he was going to torture her anyway, so why would she make it more painful on herself. "No.", she answered.

Sergei seemed unsatisfied with the answer. "Ziva, why are you lying to me? I saw them, they are faded, and someone would only notice if they were close enough or looking for them, but they are there. I will have to take your tongue anyway, for lying."

The team watched Sergei bring his knife into position when Ziva spoke again. "They are not from cigarettes. They are from cigars." The knife froze in the air just above Ziva's mouth, and Abby buried her face in McGee's shoulder again. Gibbs stood without emotion, and Tony stared at the knife poised to cut.

"Who? I saw more on your neck." Sergei wanted to make her relive her pain before he reenacted it. Ziva didn't cry or show any sign of distress as she recounted her past to Sergei and the entire team. "Hm, Agent Gibbs, bring Dr. Mallard and Jimmy Palmer to watch my video. I can see you, so if you don't do it, I will reenact Ziva's past." He turned back to her. "Who?", he asked again.

"I do not know. I was taken hostage, and the man liked cigars. He is dead now, so I can not ask him.", she responded in a sarcastic end. She would normally not have spoken so freely, but Sergei would be dead soon if Gibbs found her.

"Gibbs, should I call Ducky?", McGee asked nervously.

"No, he's bluffing.", Gibbs said confidently. He had to sound confident, but he was scared that Sergei could really see them.

"If he is, then it's just a safety precaution, and he'll never know we did what he said.", Abby interjected.

Tony forced his eyes from the screen. "If he's not, Ziva's going to get hurt!" Tony watched Gibbs think but knew he wouldn't budge as long as it was only a maybe. So, they watched the screen again.

Sergei was looking at something off to the side and smiled, because he had a mic in his ear. He took a cigar from the table and lit it. He smoked it for a small moment and walked to where Ziva was still staring at the ceiling. "It would seem your friends could not follow one little request to spare you from pain.", he said to her. She didn't respond, and her blank expression didn't falter.

Sergei rolled the cigar between his finger and brought it back to his lips. He pulled Ziva's shirt up over her stomach and and pressed the tip of the cigar into the soft skin there. Ziva didn't move when a circle burned its way into her skin from the cigar. The only sign of pain she sowed was the muscles beneath her skin contracting at the touch of intense heat. The team waited for him to stop, but he didn't.

He finally stopped when the cigar no longer burned. "I will light us another." He rolled Ziva onto her stomach, and she thought her bound arms would prevent it. Instead they turned with her, and she lay with her back exposed. Her gun shot wound stung as it pressed into the table, but she hoped it would stop the bleeding. "Agent Gibbs, if you do not call Dr. Mallard now, I will burn my name into her back.", Sergei told the camera as he held a metal rod in his hand for them to see.

Gibbs was angry. He stared at the screen before him and wished he could shoot it. "Tony, call Ducky and Palmer." His voice was low and dangerous. No matter what happened, they all knew Sergei Novikov would not be alive much longer., because all four people were ready to shoot him right then.

Ducky and Palmer arrived shortly after Tony had called but still didn't know why they had been asked to the lab. "Jethro, what is going on here? Tony said it was urgent.", Ducky said when he had reached Gibbs.

Gibbs motioned to the camera before speaking. "He has Ziva and demanded you be here."

"Ducky, he burned her with a cigar!", Abby said through her tears. Everyone was on edge as they watched Sergei smile at something out of the camera's view again.

"Good, Agent Gibbs. You are finally listening." He turned back to Ziva and pressed a button on the wall which caused the table she was on to rotate, so it stood vertically. Ziva realized she hadn't been tied to the chair but to something suspended from the ceiling. Sergei yelled something and a man came into view. He pushed the table away, and Ziva swung a bit in the air, and then the man was gone. "I have something new for us to do."

Vance walked into the room and saw the screen everyone was so entranced by. "Please tell me that's not what I think it is." He said that, but he didn't need an answer to know what it was. "I have fifteen agents here who said they will help with the search if you tell them where to go. That's all I could get."

Gibbs took a breath and knew he would have to leave the screen. He nodded and left the room after telling Tony and McGee to follow him. He hoped their absence wouldn't hurt Ziva, but he had no choice. He walked into the bullpen and saw fifteen agents awaiting their orders. "Alright, we have an odd number, so there will be three teams of four and two of three. If you don't think you can handle the team of three speak now." No one moved, so Gibbs continued. "McGee, did you narrow the search?"

McGee stepped forward when his name was called. "Yes, boss. I narrowed it down to buildings in Fairfax where they would have the privacy to do what they wanted without intrusions or being heard. We're only down to thirty."

No one looked hopeful, but they all looked determined to bring home a fellow agent. "Alright, we'll have five groups, six buildings each. You shoot to kill if you find him. Tony and McGee are passing around a picture of Sergei Novikov. He has men working for him, so call it in if you find the place. Let's break into teams and decide who's going where. When you finish come back and wait for orders." The agents were quickly broken into groups and the buildings were broken down into five lists by how close they were together, so it would be easier to move from one to the next.

The teams moved out of the building and prepared for a very long Christmas Eve. Gibbs, McGee, and Tony drove to their first location. Some had been closer or further than their own, so on the way they heard "clear" coming through in the mics. They reached the first stop on their list and rushed to the building. McGee took the back, while Gibbs and Tony took the front. Gibbs kicked the door in, and they rushed through the building. "Clear.", Gibbs growled into his mic. He heard similar answers from Tony and McGee throughout the building.

They piled back into the car and drove to the next location. Tony wished someone would say they had found Ziva instead of everyone saying they had cleared another building. There were still two men unaccounted for, and they could have forty or fifty more properties to check. They cleared two more buildings and made it to the fourth. Two teams had finished their list without any indication that anyone had been in them in the last ten years, so there were only three teams still looking at their last two or three locations.

Their fourth building only had one door, so Gibbs kicked the door in, and Tony and McGee rushed in with their weapons drawn. Gun shots rang out, and the team returned fire.

Abby wished she were an agent, so she had an excuse to stop watching the screen. She, Ducky, and Palmer were still watching, and Sergei looked at the something behind the camera again. "I see some people have left. I think we will do ten for Agents DiNozzo and McGee and fifteen for Agent Gibbs.", he said to the camera before walking out of view.

"That's thirty-five! Thirty-five what?", Abby asked with a quivering voice.

"I don't know, dear girl, but Ziva can handle it.", Ducky assured her. He didn't feel the confidence that his words held, but he knew Ziva was strong. She had been through so much already, but she would not break easily. Slashes ran up and down her arms and legs, and bruises colored her face and stomach.

Sergei came back into view holding a whip in his hand. Abby gasped, but Ziva only looked at Sergei. She would not show fear, and she would not break. He let the whip unravel, so he was only holding the handle. He pulled his arm back, and Ziva felt it come into contact with her back and wrap around her middle. "Only thirty-four to go.", he said. The lashes continued until Sergei and Ziva were both panting heavily. Ziva's back and shoulders were bloody and raw, but she had refused cry out.

Abby cried for Ziva. She let her tears flow without trying to restrain them. Ducky and Palmer looked at the screen with mixtures of horror and disgust. They all heard the sound at the same time, and the doors were busted open, but by who?


	4. Chapter 4

The doors flew open, and Sergei's head swiveled to where the intruder was. Ziva didn't have the energy to lift her head, but she knew by the silence in the room that Gibbs was there. "NCIS! Drop the weapon!", he ordered in a dangerous voice.

Abby cheered from her side of the screen, as Tony and McGee entered the room with their weapons trained on Sergei. "We took care of them, boss.", Tony announced with his eyes on Ziva. He saw the burns to her stomach and cuts on her arms, legs, and stomach, but there was too much blood pooling beneath her.

Sergei laughed at them and fingered the knife at his waist. He slid it slowly from its sheath and watched the men before him. "You may shoot me if you wish, because I am already dead.", he told them.

The three men had their fingers on the triggers of their guns, and every single one wanted to pull their trigger. "Give me a reason.", Tony called to him.

Sergei laughed again, but this time he chose not to speak in English. "Я вижу свою Катюшу в ближайшее время, но вы будете помнить меня всю жизнь. (I will see my Katyusha soon, but you will remember me for the rest of your life.)", he said to Ziva.

She laughed through the pain burning throughout her body, because she would never show weakness to this man. "Иди к черту. Я уже начал забывать о тебе. (go to hell. I have already begun to forget you)", she spat at him. Her words angered him, and he lunged at her with the knife. Nine bullets lodged themselves snugly into Sergei's torso, and he fell to the ground.

Tony ran to Ziva and cut the ropes suspending her from the ceiling. She didn't have the strength to hold her own weight and fell against him without the support of her restraints. "Ziva, I'm so sorry.", Tony whispered into her ear.

"Do not apologize, it is a sign of weakness.", she told him before passing out. Gibbs told the others, who were still listening in, that they had Ziva and called an ambulance. When the ambulance arrived, Gibbs had to pull Tony away from Ziva, since he was still holding onto her like she was his lifeline.

"I'm riding with her, boss.", he said when he broke out of the loose grip Gibbs had on him. Gibbs nodded in understanding and let Tony follow the paramedics to the vehicle.

Gibbs and McGee went back to the car, and Gibbs called Vance. "We got her. She's being taken to the hospital now, so we're going over there. Tell Abby and Ducky." The ride was silent after that, and Gibbs followed the ambulance to the hospital where he then followed the gurney Ziva had been placed on. She still hadn't regained consciousness but had remained stable on the ride over.

She was taken to be stitched and cleaned up, so Gibbs, Tony, and McGee had to wait out in the lobby. Tony was pacing the length of the hallway, while McGee sat in a chair, and Gibbs stood with a poorly made cup of hospital coffee. "Gibbs, Gibbs, Gibbs! Is she okay? We saw the screen go black when everyone started shooting, and we couldn't see if Ziva was okay. She's okay, right Gibbs?" Abby had run up to him with Ducky and Palmer trying to keep up with her rapid pace.

"She's okay, Abs. We got her, and they're just cleaning her up." She hugged him tightly before jumping back.

She gasped and looked around. "I need to get her something. Do you think they have black roses here, or a cute little get well bat?", she asked, looking from Tony to McGee.

Everyone laughed, because Abby had managed to brighten a very tense situation as always. "I don't think she'll mind waiting for her flowers or bats. Maybe you can even get some live ones and tie balloons to them.", Tony said as a joke.

Abby looked at him very seriously in an offended manner. "I would never tie balloons to a poor bat, but maybe Jim can lend me a few." She was thinking aloud to herself, but no one was about to ask who Jim was or why he had bats to lend.

A doctor walked into the waiting room, and everyone there looked up at him. Apparently they weren't the only people waiting for news about a loved one. Tony was scared when he looked to his left and saw a family crying, because their son had just died. "Family of Ziva David.", he called into the waiting room.

Some people's heads turned back to what they were doing, but the NCIS teams stood and walked to the doctor. "You are all the family of Ziva David?", he asked skeptically.

Gibbs gave him a look that said he would accept the answer if he knew what was good for him. "Yes.", Gibbs said curtly.

The young doctor jumped a bit and nodded quickly. "She is stable, but I recommend bed rest for at least a week. She lost a lot of blood, but nothing vital seems to have been harmed. She will need plenty of fluids and a lot of rest. She is also awake and has demanded I let her team in or she will 'shoot her way out of the room', and that is a direct quote. You may go in one at a time for no more than five minutes each. I'm actually not supposed to let anyone in there, but Miss David is a very intimidating woman. She is in room 475.", the doctor said before moving away down the hall.

"I'm going first!", Abby yelled before taking of down the hallway. No one would get in Abby's way when she wanted something that badly.

Abby knocked on the door quietly and entered the room. Ziva was hooked up to so many machines, and Abby almost started crying again. She would have, if Ziva hadn't turned to her and smiled. "Abby.", she said cheerfully.

Abby sniffed a little and held back her tear, and she walked to the side of Ziva's bed. "I want to hug you, but I don't want to hurt you.", she said honestly. Ziva looked like she would break at the slightest touch.

Ziva laughed a little and showed none of the pain she felt when she did so. "A hug would make me feel much better, Abby. I would be insulted of you did not." Upon hearing her words, Abby hugged her loosely and smiled, knowing Ziva was okay. They talked for a few minutes before Abby relayed the doctor's orders to Ziva and said that her time was up.

"I will be out of here soon, and then you can have me all you want.", she said to Abby.

Ducky walked into the room next and looked at Ziva with sad eyes. "Hello, my dear. How are you?", he asked. He walked over to the place Abby had been standing and looked Ziva over. He could see what damage had been done to her but thought better than to bring it up.

"I have seen far worse circumstances than these, and I have felt more pain. I will be well soon if these damn doctor's will let me leave." She added the last part a bit louder than necessary, and Ducky laughed in amusement.

"I am pleased to see that you have retained your back bone. I suppose I must go soon, because everyone is anxious to see that you're okay for themselves." Ducky placed his hand on hers, and she squeezed it lightly. Ducky smiled, because she was okay. "I look forward to seeing you soon.", he said before leaving.

Palmer stepped into Ziva's room after Ducky. "Oh, Ziva you look awful.", he said without thinking. As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he clapped his hand over it. "I-I'm so sorry. I- what I meant was- I'm sorry.", he said.

Ziva smiled at him. She could always count on Palmer to lift her spirits by stumbling over his words."It is okay. I am aware that I look like I went ten round with Mike Jordan.", she said.

Palmer looked at her in confusion for a moment but caught on to what she was trying to say. "Oh! I think you meant Mike Tyson the boxer. Mike, well Michael, Jordan is the basket ball player.", he explained to her.

"Ah, thank you. I will remember this.", she said. Palmer didn't use his full five minutes. He cared about Ziva and was glad that she was okay, but they weren't as close as she was with the rest of the team.

McGee stepped over the thresh hold after Palmer's exit. He was taken aback by the vision of Ziva lying in a hospital bed. "Do not worry, McGee. It looks worse than it is.", she assured him when he didn't move forward.

McGee forced himself to walk her bed side. "I'm sorry. I should have been able to narrow down the search or found something to help you." McGee was always the person who found the tech stuff. He should have been able to use it when it counted so heavily, but he hadn't been able to.

Ziva took his hand, so he would look at her. "I am certain you are the reason I was found as quickly as I was. Thank you, McGee." He smiled and squeezed her hand. They chatted about unimportant things, and McGee left after receiving a text. It had been from Tony, asking what was taking so long.

Gibbs walked into the room and looked down at Ziva like a father looks protectively at his daughter. "I knew you would find me.", she said. "The first time Tony and I were separated from the group, I did not believe him when he said you would find us alive, but you did. You always do."

"You're on my team. I will always find you.", Gibbs said. His team was his family, and he was part of theirs. His team was made of damaged people who needed someone they could trust and be there for them, and that included him. They were there for each other, healing the emotional wounds and facing the screwed up hand life had dealt them.

Gibbs left soon after, because neither he nor Ziva did well with sharing emotions and thoughts. Finally, Tony stepped into the room. He looked over Ziva's body, lying in a hospital bed and hooked up to machines. She was like this because of him. He hadn't been there for her. He had made a list of the rules had broken while waiting for his chance to see her, and it wasn't pretty. Rule number one: Don't screw over your partner, rule number three: never be unreachable, rule number six: never say you're sorry, and rule number eight: never take anything for granted (he had taken Ziva for granted when he didn't answer her call). "This is not your fault, Tony.", Ziva said as if reading his mind.

He released a bitter laugh, because it was his fault. "I saw that you were calling, and I didn't answer. I thought...I thought it was work, and you and McGee could handle it without me. If I had thought for a second that you needed me- but you did need me, and I wasn't there." Tony's eyes stung with tears, but he wouldn't let them fall.

Ziva held out her hand, and he walked forward to take it. "You could not have known, and I know that you worked as hard as possible to find me. You did, you found me, and I am okay." He leaned down and hugged her tighter than he meant to, but she didn't mind. They stayed like that for their entire five minutes, taking comfort in the other's arms.

_Three weeks later_

"Tony, if you do not stop throwing those paper balls at me, I will save any woman from the trouble of bearing your child!", Ziva yelled angrily.

Tony gulped at the though of losing a very vital appendage and made McGee his new target. "Just because you're scared of her, doesn't mean you can throw stuff at me.", McGee said in agitation.

"Actually, McWimp, it does.", Tony replied triumphantly. Gibbs walked through the bullpen and slapped Tony on the back of the head as he walked by. Everything was back to the way it was supposed to be, and their dysfunctional little family was still complete with only a few more scratches to be healed.


End file.
